A child murderer today told a court how convicted Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were innocent of killing a British student.

Builder Mario Alessi, 51, is currently serving life for kidnapping and beating to death 18 month old Tommaso Onofri with a shovel.

He was one of five prisoners due to give evidence on behalf of Knox and Sollecito, who were convicted 18 months ago of the brutal murder of Meredith Kercher, 21.

She was found semi naked and with her throat cut in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox - who is serving 26 years for the murder - and two other women.

Alessi told the court how he had been approached by drifter Rudy Guede, 25, who has already been convicted of Meredith's murder while they were in a prison exercise yard at Viterbo near Rome.

He said he listened as Guede told him how Knox and Sollecito were innocent of the murder, which had been in fact committed by an unidentified friend of his.

Alessi said:'We were in the exercise yard and Guede approached me and said he had something to say. He wanted us to get away from the other inmates and away from the cameras.

'He said that his appeal was coming up and he didn't know whether to tell the truth or not. He said that the real version of events was different from what had been said on the TV.'

Appeal: Amanda Knox, pictured in court in
Perugia today, is appealing her 26 year conviction for the murder of
Meredith Kercher, right

Fellow killer: Raffaele Sollecito, who was sentenced to 25 ears jail, sits in court in Perugia for the latest day of his appeal hearing

At this point prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola interrupted him and told him he did not have to answer as he was under investigation for giving a false statement, to which Alessi replied he was unaware of before adding he felt ill.

Following a two hour adjournment after an ambulance was called to treat him, judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman ruled that Alessi could speak and he resumed his evidence.

As he spoke Knox, dressed in an ankle length floral pattern white dress and blue top listened intently, occasionally making notes or picking on points with her lawyer.

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Alessi said: 'Guede asked me what benefits he would get if he told the truth. He then said that he had met Meredith in a bar with some friends of his - one was called The Fat One.

'He said that one had got drunk and that he had followed Meredith home to see where she lived. A few days later he said he and this drunk friend went back to the house to see Meredith.

'They asked her if she would like to have a threesome and she had told them to leave. Rudy said he then went to the bathroom and that when he came back the scene was very different.

'He said that Meredith was on the floor, back down, and that his friend was holding her down by the arms before they swapped positions.

Alessi claims Rudy Guede, who was jailed over the killing of Meredith Kercher, told him Amanda Knox was innocent of murder

'Rudy then told me that he had put a small ivory handled knife to her throat and that it had cut her and his hands were full of blood. He said that his friend had said:'We need to finish her off or we will rot in jail.'

Alessi added that Guede had told him his friend had then fled the house and he had tried to stem the blood from Meredith's wound before fleeing himself from the scene in Perugia, Italy.

He added how the two had then met up in a nightclub and Guede had told him his friend had given him a bundle of cash and told him:'Now get out of Italy.'

Guede - who denies Alessi's claims -
went on the run and was eventually arrested in Germany before being
extradited back to Italy in December 2007, a month after Meredith was
murdered.

He was later
convicted of murder and sexual assault and given theory years before
this was reduced to appeal to 18 years and confirmed by the Italian
Supreme Court.

Alessi added that while in jail
together in 2009 he and Guede were watching a news report on Knox and
Sollecito's conviction and he had said: 'Well done judge' to which they
had argued violently.

Alessi
said:'I told him how could he say that when he had told me they were
innocent of murder. We had a bit of a fight about it. I had told him to
tell the truth. After that we didn't really speak again.'

During
cross examination from Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family, lawyer,
Alessi was shown a picture of little Tommaso and asked: 'You are serving
life for the murder of this child. Do you recognise him ?'

Mr Alessi said Rudy Guede told him that 'the real version of events is different to what has been said on TV'

To which he replied:'No,' with Mr Maresca adding: 'Well we all remember him. You are also serving a sentence for sexual assault - we say you are lying.'

The court then also heard from Marco Castelluccio, who is serving time for robbery and possession of a firearm, he had to give his evidence from behind a screen as he has turned informer the court heard.

Surrounded by three armed guards Castelluccio said that while in prison he had also heard from Alessi what Guede had told him and that other inmates were also aware of his claims that Knox and Sollecito were innocent.

The last to testify was convicted mobster Luciano Aviello, 42, who told the court his brother had carried out the murder and given him the keys to the house as well as a bloody knife to hide.

Aviello said the murder had been ordered because his brother Antonio, had been promised 15,000 Euro to help steal a valuable painting that was in the house.

Flanked by two prison guards Aviello, from Naples, said: 'My family doesn't work, how shall we say, legitimately so it didn't surprise me that he was asked to do this job.'

He added: 'The night of November 1 I was watching TV and my brother came into the house. The sleeves of his jacket were ripped and he had deep scratches on his arms.

'There was blood on him. I saw sticking out of his pocket a piece of cloth and inside there was a closed flick knife and a set of keys. I asked him to tell me what had happened.'

Aviello then described how his brother had entered the house with the keys and had been looking for the painting when they were disturbed by a woman 'wearing a dressing gown.'

The flat where Meredith Kercher was found brutally murdered in Perugia, Italy, has since been put back up for rent

He added: 'My brother told me that he
had put his hand to her mouth but she had struggled. He said he got the
knife and stabbed her before they had run off. He said they had also
smashed a window to simulate a break in.'

Aviello went on to describe how he
had hidden the keys and the knife and said:'There was a wall by the
house where I live. I took out a stone and put the keys and knife in
there and covered it with earth.'

He added: 'Inside me I know that a
miscarriage of justice has taken place,' also adding that he had been in
the same jail as Sollecito and had told him:'I believe in your
innocence.'

Under cross examination from the
prosecution it emerged that Aviello had also been convicted seven times
of defamation to which he angrily replied:'That's because all of you,
the judiciary are a clan.'

Back in 2009 the court was told how DNA from Knox had been found on the handle of a 30cm kitchen knife recovered form Sollecito's kitchen and that of Meredith was on the tip.

However it ha since emerged that the results were so low they would not have been admitted as evidence in any other trial and the experts are examining the methods used.

As a result there is a growing unease over the safety of the conviction as the prosecution's motive has also changed several times from sex game gone wrong, to a bungled break, to a domestic row between Knox and Meredith.

Meredith, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was a Leeds University student in Perugia as part of her degree course and had only been in Italy for two months before she was murdered in November 2007.